Group Survival in the Ancient Mediterranean: Rethinking Material Conditions in the Landscape of Jews and Christians

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgements Epigraphic and Papyrological Abbreviations Introduction 1 Who Belonged to Associations? 2 Scenarios of Success, Survival and Decline 3 Starting an Association: Collective and Individual Agency 4 Counting the Costs of Communal Life 5 Acquiring Resources 6 Communal Collections, Part 1: Fund-Raising and Group Values 7 Communal Collections, Part 2: Associations Devoted to the Israelite God 8 Mutual Assistance and Group Cohesion Conclusion Appendix: Women Participating in Associations, 1st Century bce–2nd Century ce Bibliography Index of Inscriptions and Papyri Index of Ancient Literary Sources Index of Modern Scholars Subject Index

About the Author :
Philip A. Harland is Professor in the Humanities Department at York University, Canada. His publications include Dynamics of Identity in the World of the Early Christians (Continuum, 2009). For websites relating to social and religious life in antiquity, see http://www.philipharland.com. Richard Last is Assistant Professor in the Ancient Greek and Roman Studies program at Trent University, Canada.

Review :
This volume is a much-needed supplement to our understanding of communal form of Judaeans and Christians in the first centuries of the Common Era, and to that end, it is overflowing with epigraphical and papyrological comparanda from ancient Mediterranean associations ... Though the study is primarily for specialists, anyone interested in the social history of early Christ groups will benefit from engaging with this book. With its careful structure and lucidly written prose, they will find it a pleasure to read. This book pursues an important question with impressive rigor ... Harland and Last succeed in exposing a number of exaggerations and misunderstandings sometimes advanced by scholars ... Of final note, it should be said that the authors desire for their readers to engage with the primary sources themselves and have drafted the book in a way that is conducive to that end. Thus, this book could be profitably used in a classroom context (especially among students of religion with only a more introductory knowledge of economic dynamics in the ancient world). In this erudite and smart study, Last and Harland explore the material dynamics of associations in antiquity, which played critical social, economic, and political roles mediating the vast space between the family and imperial authorities. Judicious and accessible, this study brings to life the inner workings of these associations, throwing light in particular on how groups of both Judeans and early followers of Jesus fit into a larger cultural context. Drawing on an extensive corpus of epigraphic and papyrological sources-recently made accessible by Harland to scholars and students across the globe-Last and Harland show what can be achieved with this material. They offer a clear and systematic study of the material and financial conditions of a wide range of associations. This book is a must-read for social historians of the Graeco-Roman world. In this brilliant and methodologically sophisticated book, Last and Harland invite the reader to look beyond ideologically imaginative understandings of ancient groups devoted to Israel's God-including followers of Jesus. They discover on the local level economic, social, and cultural factors crucial to the early formation and survival of what would develop into two world-religions: Judaism and Christianity. An outstanding contribution to scholarship and a must-read for anyone interested in early Judaism and Christian origins, as well as more generally ancient Mediterranean society. The volume, though rather slim, is encyclopedic and highly informative. It also is supported by a website where most of the texts discussed in it are found. Together the printed text and the website offer the researcher excellent availability to examine and reflect on these texts. The book has certainly advanced our understanding of this important social phenomenon.